For the true motorsports enthusiast
there is no event quite like the Rolex Monterey Historic
Automobile Races, which start tomorrow (Friday, August 14) at
Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca. Not only are history's most
significant race cars accessible in paddock areas for spectators
to admire at close range but also they perform, racing
wheel-to-wheel to thrill the crowds, which are expected to
exceed 30,000 over the next three days.

The event is a cornerstone of Monterey
Peninsula’s Classic Car Week, a veritable feast of things to see
and do for car lovers, and utilizes the renowned Mazda Raceway
Laguna Seca like no other on the facility’s calendar. With
practice on Friday and warm-ups Saturday and Sunday mornings,
racing begins after noon each weekend day for 15 race groups
that span nearly every era of motorsports history.

The 2.238-mile Mazda Raceway Laguna
Seca is nestled among the hills between Monterey and Salinas and
features among its 11 turns the signature Corkscrew, which drops
five stories from its entrance to the challenging hairpin turn
that follows it. For those of the 450 participants who are new
to the track, a new- driver orientation was held today,
previewing the sights, sounds and smells in which spectators
will indulge tomorrow.

“This helps to get the weekend off to a
good start,” said Mark Hamilton Peters (Lakeville, Conn.), a
private driver coach who -- working like an energetic traffic
cop -- orchestrated individual starts for the cars taking to the
track. “It helps the drivers who are here for the first time
become familiar with the track, so they don’t have to go out
cold tomorrow. It takes away the stress of doing the Monterey
Historics, which is a big deal in any vintage racing driver’s
book.”

Peters added: “There are drivers here like John
Morton and Brian Redman who originally raced these cars that we are now
seeing in historic events. And then there are also participants here
who, when they were younger, saw those gentlemen drive and admired them
and now have reached a milestone in their lives that lets them live the
fantasy of driving like their heroes.”

With Porsche as the Featured Marque
this year, pre-event activities today also included “hot laps”
for journalists in a fleet of newly unveiled 2010 Porsche
Panamera Gran Turismos. Behind the wheels of the exotic
four-door, four-seat sports cars were celebrity drivers Hurley
Haywood and David Donohue. (Haywood, one of the most winning
endurance racers ever, and Donohue, the 2009 Rolex 24 Hours at
Daytona winner, will be racing at the Rolex Monterey Historics.)

Of the 450 vintage race cars competing
here, one-third will be Porsches, representing 61 years of the
company’s manufacturing legacy. Porsche activities for the
public will include its heritage display featuring former and
current race cars and a special showing of four cars from the
new Porsche Museum in Germany: the 1960 Porsche Type 718 Formula
2; the 1962 Porsche Type 804 Formula 1; the 1962 Porsche Type
718 W-RS 8-cylinder Spyder; and the Porsche GT1 98LM. The
Porsche Club of America expects to have more than 200 Porsches
in its Club Corral and will parade all its cars on Sunday.

Between races spectators can visit the
award winning Rolex Moments in Time exhibit, which once again
has knocked it out of the park with an amazing presentation,
including the 1969 Gulf Ford GT 40 that won the 1969 24 Hours of
Le Mans race by less than four seconds. And leaving no one
wanting for more, Rolex has also included in the exhibit the
1969 908LH Porsche that took second place that year.